Serhiy Zhadan presents a jazz musical about Kharkiv in New York
In New York, Serhiy Zhadan presented the premiere of Radio 477, an avant-garde jazz musical directed by Les Kurbas.
The main purpose of the poet’s visit to the United States is to raise as much money as possible to support the Ukrainian army. He has been to many places, but he stopped in New York.
The avant-garde jazz musical premiered in English at the La MaMa Theater in Manhattan.
According to the director and head of the Yara art group, Virlyana Tkach, the work was staged at the Berezil Theater in Kharkiv in 1929 and was considered lost during Stalin’s repressions; the lyrics written by poet Mike Johansen for the musical have not survived either.
“During my trip to Ukraine, I found a copy of the score for the conductor in the Kharkiv archives and asked American composer Anthony Coleman to analyze it,” the director tells Ukrinform.
After the performance, Serhiy Zhadan read his poems, and the American poet Reginald Dwayne Betts read his English translations.
The musical will run in New York from March 10 to 19.
Author: Daria Skotchenko
Photo: personal archive of Serhiy Zhadan.
